Scope and Content Note
The papers of Nina Vsevolod Fedoroff (1942- ) span the years 1914-2012, with the bulk of the material dating from 1977 to 2008. The collection documents Fedoroff’s work as a molecular biologist, including her pioneering research into genetic sequencing. The collection also includes her seminal research and writing on isolating plant transposable elements. The collection chronicles Fedoroff’s involvement in the scientific world, promoting greater international understanding of genetic advances in plants as a method to better support the world’s populations through the creation of plants more resistant to climate change and other agricultural issues. The collection is in English and includes correspondence with other scientists, lab notes, scientific papers and other writings, speaking engagements, and materials from her career at Pennsylvania State University, University Park, Pennsylvania. The collection is arranged into ten series: Correspondence, Notes and Notebooks, Cross Cards, Negatives and Slides, Writings, Speeches and Events, Subject File, Digital File, 2022 Addition, and Oversize.
The majority of the Correspondence series, 1979-2007, relates to grant applications used to fund and support Fedoroff’s research at the Carnegie Institute of Washington, Washington, D.C., and at Pennsylvania State University. Supporting materials provide detailed descriptions of the project goals, document background and research significance, list the type of equipment used in a project, and include feedback from other scientists and the funding institution. In instances where the grant was for a continuation of support for a project, a description of the progress made and information obtained during the previous funding cycles is provided. This series also features correspondence regarding patent applications on methods developed by Fedoroff to isolate and manipulate genetic sequences in plants as well as on isolated cloned genes created through Fedoroff’s research. The correspondence, both physical and digital, includes requests of scientists from around the world asking for plasmids of cloned genes for use in their own experiments. It includes digital files copied from a variety of storage media with each peice of storage media assigned a unique digital ID number.
The Notes and Notebooks series, 1942-2004, is the largest single group of records in the collection and includes materials from when Fedoroff was an undergraduate at Syracuse University through to her research at Pennsylvania State University. The notes from Fedoroff's time as an undergraduate and graduate student set the foundation for her later work and interest in genetics. This series includes Fedoroff’s lab notes as a postdoctoral researcher, working with Donald Brown, when she pioneered deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA) sequencing by determining the complete nucleotide sequence of African clawed frogs. The core of this series pertains to Fedoroff’s seminal work on isolating the molecular characterization of maize and other plants' transposable elements and applying these lessons to modify the genetics of plants while at the Carnegie Institute of Washington and at Pennsylvania State University. Also included in the series are copies of Barbara McClintock’s lab notes from the early 1940s regarding the “jumping genes” or transposable elements in corn genes. These notes were given to Fedoroff when she first started exploring these topics in the late 1970s and early 1980s. The series also features notes taken by Fedoroff at various conferences and meetings regarding plant and bacterial genetics. Many of the conference notes were taken during the Cold Spring Harbor Symposium and the Carnegie Mini-Symposium of the 1980s and 1990s. These notes also show Fedoroff’s interest in the development of genetics internationally, including work presented at a North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) conference on wheat and rye plant genomes, a Soviet gene symposium which focused on a human growth hormone, and notes on the International Genetics Congress meeting in 1988.
The Cross Cards series, 1979-1988, is an extension of Fedoroff’s lab notes while at the Carnegie Institution of Washington, comprising note cards that provide details on parent and offspring plant crosses and their genetic elements. The series provides insight into the preparation and methods used by Fedoroff and her staff to recover DNA from plants and develop a growing media for the plants.
The Negatives and Slides series, 1977-2006, primarily consists of slides of experiments conducted on plants by Fedoroff and her staff at the Carnegie Institute of Washington and Pennsylvania State University. The slides also feature images taken through microscopes of plant development with specific areas of the plant highlighted with dye. The series includes images of maize grown by Fedoroff showing the changes from crossing two plants. The slides concerning maize contain magnified corn kernels with transposable elements and include Fedoroff's notes written on the border of the slide. The series also contain slides from lectures given by Fedoroff during her time at the Carnegie Institute of Washington and Pennsylvania State University. The film negatives consist of plant specimens and maize kernels used in experiments.
The Writings series, 1914-2003, consists of published scientific articles and other writings by Fedoroff. These writings include her earliest research documenting phage f2 replicase at the Rockefeller University, New York, N.Y., and the isolation of messenger ribonucleic acid in mice at the University of California, Los Angeles. The series also features the published articles in the late 1970s on Fedoroff’s experiments sequencing frog DNA. After sequencing frog DNA, her research and published articles changed focus to the isolation and molecular characterization of plant transposable elements making this topic the bulk of Fedoroff’s writing. This series also includes writings from her doctoral students at Pennsylvania State University, and other plant geneticists such as Royal Alexander Brink, Edward H. Cole, R. A. Emerson, Irwin M. Greenblatt, Barbara McClintock, and M. M. Rhoades. The writings of R. A. Emerson span the early 1900s to the late 1920s, while those of Barbara McClintock and M. M. Rhoades date back to the early 1930s and continue to the 1990s. The writings center on the development of plant genetics and the presence of transposable elements in plants.
The Speeches and Events series, 1995-2007, starts when Fedoroff came to Pennsylvania State University, and features correspondence, notes, abstracts, pamphlets, and other materials related to speeches given by Fedoroff at a wide variety of venues including universities, conferences, symposia, and a few international forums. Topics include diversifying the science community by advocating and supporting women in science fields and Fedoroff’s research interests regarding mutating plant DNA through transposon elements.
The Subject File, 1973-2007, spans a variety of topics and includes some teaching files from Pennsylvania State University. The bulk of the materials relates to Fedoroff’s work as a member of consulting committees and professional societies, as well as materials related to doctoral students and postdoctoral researchers she worked with and instructed at both the Carnegie Institution of Washington and at Pennsylvania State University. Those materials concerning her consulting committees include correspondence, travel expenses, nominations for membership, and meeting notes, and those of doctoral students and postdoctoral researchers include correspondence, drafts of published works, and notes on experiments. The series includes digital files copied from a variety of storage media.
The Digital File series, 1989-2008, complements the paper files and includes additional materials related to Fedoroff’s work at Pennsylvania State University, published writings and drafts, grant proposals, presentations, experiments completed at Pennsylvania State University, and Fedoroff’s work on consulting committees and professional organizations. This series includes correspondence, images, videos, PowerPoint presentations, spreadsheets, draft manuscripts, and website materials. In instances where digital media was found with the collection's paper content, the digital materials are described alongside the paper records. A complete list of digital files in this collection can be found in Appendix A: File Directory Listings.
The 2022 Addition, 1971-2012, expands upon material elsewhere in the collection documenting Fedoroff’s research and interest in plant genetics. The addition supplements publications authored by Fedoroff and includes edited drafts, correspondence, and images and graphs related to the publications. The addition also includes photographs and notes associated with research on transposons, known as jumping genes, in plants.
The Oversize series, 2000-2005, consists of a group of large photographs taken of the National Science Board. This series includes a collection of seeds Fedoroff received from Barbara McClintock in the early 1980s when Fedoroff was starting to explore transposable elements of maize. These seeds were housed in labeled envelopes but were relabeled and rehoused in glass vials by Library of Congress staff.